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Losing top talent is painful, no matter what part of the world you operate in. It depletes your organization’s stock of assets and often has extended ramifications on team morale, customer relationships and depth of critical technical expertise.

For the majority (84%) of contributors to our study of talent management practices in Southeast Asia, talent retention is considered business-critical. Yet less than one-third feel that their talent retention strategies are adequate to ensure business continuity and productivity. One in 10 multinational corporations (MNCs) believes they have insufficient resources to stop the bleeding of talent from their organizations.

Multiple factors – intrinsic and extrinsic, individually driven and organizationally driven – affect an employee’s intention to stay or leave. While much attention centers on individual factors that impact the intention to stay, in Southeast Asia, organizational factors, such as company size, length of operation in-country, expatriate mix, and training, are three times more effective at explaining turnover variance. For example, larger organizations with longer track records and presence in the market have better retention rates than those that do not.

Although there is no silver bullet when constructing a retention strategy that works, the good news is that a mix-and-match approach from a menu of possible HR policies and practices can ensure greater retention effectiveness.

What Really Matters?

In Southeast Asia, the organizational elements that matter to employees and increase their intention to stay are:

Money: Labor rates in Asia, while rising, are still substantially lower than those in the West. Employees in Southeast Asia expect competitive remuneration with salary, bonus and incentive components and will leave for relatively low increases offered elsewhere.

Progression: Having a clear line of sight for career progression through promotions and advancement opportunities is essential for retention. In a survey of employees in Asia, more than 80% of employees either had left an employer due to lack of career opportunities or said they would leave their current employer if insufficient career opportunities were available in the next 12 months.

Brand: Big brands carry a big perception bonus in Southeast Asia – stronger, richer, safer and with more to offer their employees. Competition for talent among the big brands is even stronger today with more and more Eastern-based MNCs attracting local top talent.

Leadership: In Southeast Asia, where employees tend to have an unquestioned acceptance of leadership authority and a stronger desire for clarity and certainty, leaders are expected to be decisive, instructional and supportive.

Flexibility: A flexible approach to work is emerging as one of the most valued factors that employees seek from their workplace, whether it is flexibility in how they do their work, where they do it, or how it aligns with their overall need for work-life balance. While flexibility is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, organizations need a suite of flexible options to serve as an effective retention tool.

In most cases, any one of these components alone is not enough to retain top talent. After all, what attracts talent initially does not necessarily retain it in the long run. At least one or more of these components are necessary to have the desired retention effect.